Beware the Slenderman: From Meme to Attempted Murder

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HBO's Upcoming Documentary

Tall, faceless, and hiding in the forest waiting to abduct children. This is the legend of Slenderman.

The mythological entity was created innocently back in 2009 for a paranormal Photoshop contest on the online forum Something Awful.

Original Image, (Something Awful)

Of course, the internet did what it does best, and took the initial idea, and expanded it into a viral phenomenon. The fictional character spawned countless artwork, cosplay, prank videos, Photoshopped memes, and online fan-fiction known as “creepypasta”.

At first, the legend of Slenderman was all fun and games, but in 2014, the faceless figure became a real life nightmare for two Waukesha, Wisconsin, preteens. On May 31 2014, two 12-year-old girls lured their friend of the same age into the woods during a game of hide-and-seek, and stabbed her a total of 19 times. Allegedly, they did this to impress Slender Man – or at least, that’s what they claim.

After repeatedly stabbing the young girl in the forest, piercing her liver, pancreas and stomach, and barely missing an artery near her heart, the girls left her for dead. Luckily, the victim crawled to a road, and was found one millimeter away from her death.

When questioned about the incident, Morgan Geyser one of the stabbers said, “It was weird that I didn’t feel remorse”. Both suspects were charged as adults for attempted first-degree intentional homicide. Both face up to 65 years in prison.

HBO’s newest documentary, titled “Beware the Slenderman”, directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky, centres around the strange case. It will make it’s debut January 23 on HBO.